Authority, Sincerity, Commitment: A Comparative Case Study of Narrative Relationships in Italy in the Era of Digital Media

Georgia Wall

doi:10.13125/2039-6597/1306

Georgia Wall University of Warwick

DOI: https://doi.org/10.13125/2039-6597/1306

Keywords: narrative relationships, the book, social media, Andrea Camilleri, Roberto Saviano

Abstract

This paper explores some of the opportunities and hazards related to the circulation of texts in the context of facilitated communication promoted by contemporary technology with a particular focus on an increased public access to the figure of the author.

By means of case studies of two contemporary Italian writers, Andrea Camilleri and Roberto Saviano, both known as much for their public personas and social interventions as for their literary texts, the reader-writer-text relationship in the age of digital communication and social media is considered from a narratological perspective.

Contemporary narrative relationships and their impact on the idea of the book are shown to be reflective of the fluidity and immediacy of today’s communication networks.

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Author Biography

Georgia Wall, University of Warwick

Georgia Wall is a PhD student at the University of Warwick. Current research explores the notion of ‘success’ in migrant culture, focusing on celebrities the British-Italian community as part of the AHRC-funded project, ‘Transnationalizing Modern Languages: Mobility, Identity and Translation in Modern Italian Cultures’. Other research interests include impegno in contemporary Italian literature, interaction between the regional and the national in Italian popular culture, and the cultural identity of the Abruzzo region.

Email: g_wall@hotmail.co.uk

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